Then and Now Again:1947 Aerial Photography vs Google Satellite
March 13th, 2013 by ant6n
In a sort of continuation of my transit map mashup comparing transit maps from 1941 and 2011, I made another mashup comparing aerial photography from 1947 and now. The city of Montreal published aerial photos from the entire Montreal island, that were made between 1947 and 1949. I was able to get a version of stitched images of the downtown areas and the Plateau (via mare, who used some sort of stitching software). Rotated and Translated to approximately fit google satellite (which actually uses aerial photos as well), and put all together, it looks like this (A full screen version can be found here):
I’ll leave this without much comment, just go ahead and explore. I invite you to comment your observations.
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March 13th, 2013 at 14:33
Any intention of completing the map of the island from 1947 with the thounsands of other pictures ?
March 13th, 2013 at 21:36
Beau travail! Fascinant de voir l’ampleur des changements apportés à l’Île Ste-Hélène et à l’Île Ronde.
March 13th, 2013 at 21:55
I’m a Montrealer and public transit user. I just came across your blog. It’s amazing!
March 13th, 2013 at 22:28
Well done on this mammoth project. It must of taken quite a bit of your spare time. A sincere thank you!
March 14th, 2013 at 01:47
Noted:
1) on Bishop above Ste-Catherine: you can find the Royal George Apartments, of which only the facade now remains — integrated into Concordia’s McConnell Building. This was just off the corner of Blvd de Maisonneuve, which in 1947 is four separate streets, not yet connected up.
2) Tour Drummond, on Drummond. As they built the Metro’s Green Line, they also knocked through Blvd de Maisonneuve, two lanes of which ran through the first two storeys of Tour Drummond, until in was demolished in the 90ies, maybe?
3) At the corner of Kitchener and de Maisonneuve in Westmount: a farm! Cultivated fields, about a block from Westmount City Hall. Now a huge apartment complex.
Nice work!
March 14th, 2013 at 02:00
@Glenn,Leo
Nice observations!
@Propos, Nick
Intention, yes. But it may be complicated, and take time. Already the stitching together is causing drifts in the imagery that make everything hard to line up. I posted some details on how I built this on reddit.
March 14th, 2013 at 13:09
Ce que vous avez fait avec nos photos d’archives de 1947 est très intéressant.
Bravo!
Mario Robert
Archiviste en chef
Ville de Montréal
March 14th, 2013 at 13:09
You might be interested in this web-based art / writing project – contains maps as satellite photos of Montreal inc Google Maps from different erras. “in absentia” http://luckysoap.com/inabsentia
March 14th, 2013 at 13:24
Amazing stuff!!
I’ve been looking at the individual archive images, having them stitched together makes it much easier to find things, like specific intersections.
It always amazes me how much has changed and how much green space there was on the island 65 years ago.
It would be nice to have an overlay with an adjustable transparency so the changes are easier to see. I’ll manage with what’s available.
Thanks for the hard work
March 14th, 2013 at 13:47
This is great! Thanks for putting in the time to stick everything together – would love to see the whole island stiched together. good work!
March 14th, 2013 at 15:19
Great work – thanks!!
March 15th, 2013 at 13:18
Nice job, but there are major stitching problems with Mount Royal. For example, look at the portion where the road goes up the mountain. In the 1947 aerial image, you can clearly see the tunnel, in the stitched version, it is severely distorted.
March 15th, 2013 at 14:29
Bravo ! Very well done. Seeing the rest of the island would be phenomenal.
March 15th, 2013 at 23:13
I’m very confused by the McTavish reservoir in the 1947 shot. I know the reservoir has been there since the late 1800s but Wikipedia tells me that it wasn’t covered until the 50s – so what are we looking at in the picture? Just an *empty* reservoir? Maybe, but I doubt it…
Anyhow – good work with this. Fascinating!
March 15th, 2013 at 23:43
@Michel
I was wondering about the same thing! My theory is that the wikipedia article is wrong, and that the reservoir was covered exactly 10 years earlier, and the aerials show their construction. On the other hand, they might’ve just emptied it to clean it or something.
March 27th, 2013 at 17:31
Among other things, I’ve learned that the parking lot behind my building has been there for over 65 years!
April 16th, 2013 at 08:26
Thank you so much for creating and posting this amazing site. I spent a good portion of my morning going back in time to tour the streets of late-forties Griffintown and Little Burgundy. Sitting proudly on Canning Street (just north of Notre Dame) was Royal Arthur School, where I began my teaching career in 1973. The school was torn down in 1982.
I have always been fascinated by the history of the two communities; its families, stores and churches. Your map adds so much to my understanding. Thank you.
April 16th, 2013 at 16:26
Thank you very much….
You’ve done an amazing job….
I owe you a beer….
May 9th, 2013 at 01:27
Very nice! Thanks for posting!